


Chocobo Pox

by saisei



Category: Final Fantasy XV
Genre: Canon Disabled Character, Chicken Pox, Kid Fic, Sickfic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-11-05
Updated: 2019-11-05
Packaged: 2021-01-23 13:22:49
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,725
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21320866
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/saisei/pseuds/saisei
Summary: One day, Ignis doesn't come to see Noct after school...
Comments: 15
Kudos: 93
Collections: Fics from the Basement





	Chocobo Pox

Noct doesn't hate Mrs Metella. When she was hired, Ignis found out all kinds of things about her, where she'd been to school and worked before. He'd approved, but he'd had a meeting with her to make clear that she couldn't try to get rid of him.

Mrs Metella is easy to get along with, even for Ignis, who's particular. She has dark skin and she's tall and muscular like the Crownsguard. Noct never has a moment where he mistakes her for Miss Rose, who's dead. Mrs Metella talks about the dead in the same brisk common-sense way she tidies up or helps Noct with his exercises. It's hard to be embarrassed around her, even when he wakes up crying or has trouble with his wheelchair.

She doesn't hide things from Noct, even though he knows she probably simplifies topics for him. She has a wife, who also uses a wheelchair, and who works in the Ministry of Education. That's where they met, Mrs Metella says, though since then she got her certification in helping children talk through their problems.

"I'm fine," Noct tells her, always and repeatedly. And it's true. He is perfectly fine and adjusting well to not even being able to walk or run any more; he's looking forward to being allowed to go to school, which his dad _promised_ him. He knows he's not happy, but talking about it won't help, and it's easier to just get used to that, too.

It upsets Ignis, which Noct is sorry about, and one day Ignis doesn't stop by Noct's quarters after school. Noct waits. Does some of the work assigned by his tutor. Waits. Goes and eats his half of the nutritious snack that's brought up from the kitchen. Waits until it gets dark, and then realizes Ignis isn't coming. He's not good at getting from the wheelchair to his bed by himself, but he does it anyway, just so he can pull the covers up over his head and cry, great heaving sobs that soak through the pillow he presses to his face. Ignis finally gave up on him. Ignis won't be coming again. Ignis is older and has better things to do than hang out with a kid who's no fun anymore. He knew deep down, ever since Miss Rose died, that everyone he liked would abandon him in the end.

He'd been ready for it, but it still _hurts_.

"There you are," Mrs Metella says, rapping her knuckles on the door, and then: "Whatever is the matter?"

She doesn't accept his reply of _nothing_ and instead washes his face off with a damp towel, pets his hair, and rubs his back where the cramp is starting to get painful. It feels good, and he doesn't want to feel good, because Ignis is gone and it's all Noct's fault.

"Ignis is a very nice boy but he's got a temper on him," Mrs Metella says firmly. "If he were upset with you, you'd have been told at some length, I imagine."

Noct blinks. Ignis has tricked most of the adults around them into thinking he's polite and well-behaved – that's how they used to get away with so much. When the Crownsguard caught them on the roof, Uncle Clarus had told Ignis he was disappointed in him for his _uncharacteristic rule-breaking_. He didn't know half the things they'd done.

Maybe Ignis thinks Noct isn't any fun to play with, now. Even though his eyes are raw from so much crying, new tears still form.

"Goodness," Mrs Metella says. She shifts, and pulls her phone out of her pocket. "Easy enough to get to the bottom of this."

Watching her turning her force of will on other people makes Noct feel oddly comforted. She first calls Ignis' uncle, who is not in his office or to be found anywhere; Mrs Metella's tone has dropped into icy disapproval as she ends her third call. Next she rings Ignis' school and has an illuminating chat with the head teacher.

"In this day and age," Mrs Metella says, with outrage, and the tinny voice at the end of the line seems to agree. "Well. Shocking, that is. And his uncle – ?" She purses her lips as she listens. "Yes. I see."

After hanging up, she drums her fingers on her knee for a moment, as if formulating some kind of plan. Noct is desperate to know what was said, though, and he picks at the hem of her jacket while biting his tongue.

"It seems," Mrs Metella says finally, "that your little friend was not vaccinated for chocobo pox, and he was sent home with spots after lunch today. As his uncle was unavailable, the school contacted Mr Hester." She huffs in annoyance, and then rings Noct's dad, as if she has every right to bother the King about a sick child.

But a few minutes later Noct finds himself bundled up and wheeled out to a waiting car, and suddenly he's speeding through the bright lights of Insomnia, being taken to Ignis. One of the Crownsguard nurses accompanies them, and he and Mrs Metella have a lively discussion about the public health perils of children who don't get all their shots.

Noct stares out the window, trying to memorize the route, so he can get to Ignis any time he wants to.

The Crownsguard apparently fetched the spare key to Ignis' apartment from Mr Hester, and Mrs Metella opens the door and walks in as if she has every right to be there. It's dark and the curtains are wide open, like no one's home, but she flicks the lights on and looks right, then left, and then marches toward the short corridor with a bedroom on either side.

There's not much in Ignis' house: a sofa and bookcase on the far side of the room, and a table with two chairs near the kitchen. Nothing _interesting_, but that makes it easy for the nurse to push Noct straight to Ignis' room. Nothing to get in the way.

Ignis is curled up on his bed on top of the comforter, even though he's shivering like he's freezing. He's still wearing his school uniform, and every bit of skin that Noct can see is covered with red spots. The nurse makes Noct put on a paper face mask because of germs, and Mrs Metella bustles around, finding Ignis' pajamas in the closet and picking up his school bag from where it'd been dropped on the floor, setting it on the desk chair.

Ignis doesn't have any toys, or posters on the walls, or even glow in the dark star stickers on his ceiling. He does have a fever; when Noct takes his hand it's hot and dry.

"_Noct?_" Ignis says, in a very small voice (the spots, the nurse says, go all the way down his throat, and his lips are scabbing over). He's not wearing his glasses, and his eyes are swollen almost shut. He looks absolutely miserable, and it gives Noct a fierce desire to _do_ something.

"Yeah," Noct says. He doesn't know what to say next, but he pushes Ignis' hair back off his scorching forehead in imitation of Mrs Metella. The nurse comes in with a bowl of ice chips and directs Noct to feed them to Ignis one by one, while he and Mrs Metella call people and pack up a bag.

Mrs Metella leaves a letter on the kitchen table, and the nurse carries Ignis down to the waiting car. He needs fluids, they've agreed, and proper care. On the drive back to the Citadel, Ignis slumps against Noct and Noct holds his head still, so it doesn't flop forward. Ignis isn't asleep, but he's not really awake, either. Noct felt like that during the Marilith attack, he thinks; like he was dreaming, or drowning, or floating away.

When they get home, the nurse is all set to take Ignis away to stay in the clinic, but Noct puts his foot down. He's making trouble, but he doesn't care. He _makes_ them listen to him. A cot's wheeled into his bedroom, and Ignis is taken into his bathroom and dressed in his pajamas. When he comes out, he's so wobbly he can't walk by himself, and the nurse sets him up with a bag of potion that drips into his arm through a big needle. _Gross_, Noct thinks, but he tells Ignis it isn't anything to worry about. He had even bigger needles when he was attacked, and he didn't cry at all. (He doesn't say that it was because he was drifting away in his head, because that sounds less brave.)

Whatever medicine Ignis is given makes him sleep heavily until morning, when he wakes up drenched with sweat and itchy all over. The nurse shows up and puts him in a bath with some yellowish stuff, and Noct sits with him, reading stories out loud and making sure Ignis doesn't fall asleep or scratch, and that the bathwater doesn't get cold.

When they come out, they're given breakfast: toast and an egg for Noct, jelly and pudding for Ignis. He just pokes at it, too tired to even protest that he can't have sweets before his meal.

Noct's dad shows up while Noct's helping Ignis get back into bed for some more medicine. Noct worries that Mrs Metella is in trouble, from the frowning and hushed voices, but then he hears her say, "Look how much that child cares, Your Majesty. This is the breakthrough we've been hoping for."

"I dearly hope so," Noct's dad says.

Noct pulls the blankets up to Ignis' chin and tucks them in. "You hear that?" he whispers. "That means you're getting better."

Ignis squints at him – he can't wear his glasses yet, because of the spots – and then sighs and says, "Itchy."

"There's medicine!" Noct says, going to fetch the pot of cream. "Where do you want me to do?"

Ignis shrugs, but then slides his hand out, palm facing up. He's sweaty, which makes the spots even redder, and he's already scratched a couple of them bloody.

Noct puts the medicine on very carefully, mindful of his dad and Mrs Metella watching him. He's not going to let Ignis, or them, or anyone down. Ignis smiles at him, and Noct grins back.


End file.
